''Pippi Longstocking'' () is a Swedish children's novel by writer

Astrid Lindgren Astrid Anna Emilia Lindgren (; ; 14 November 1907 – 28 January 2002) was a Swedish writer of fiction and screenplays. She is best known for several children's book series, featuring Pippi Longstocking, Emil i Lönneberga, Emil of Lönneberga, ...

, published by Rabén & Sjögren with illustrations by

Ingrid Vang Nyman Ingrid Vang Nyman (21 August 1916 – 13 December 1959) was a Danish illustrator noted for her work on the Pippi Longstocking books of which she was the original illustrator. She also adapted the stories into a comic book. Despite the worldwide f ...

in 1945. Translations have been published in more than 40 languages, commonly with new illustrations. The first English language translation was published late in 1950 by

The Viking Press Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheimer and then acqui ...

in the United States with illustrations by Louis S. Glanzman.

Origin

Lindgren originally told Pippi stories to her daughter Karin in 1941, when the seven-year-old was home sick with pneumonia. She wrote the first manuscript during her injury three years later. After it was rejected by

Bonniers Bonnier AB (), also the Bonnier Group, is a privately held Swedish media group of 175 companies operating in 15 countries. It is controlled by the Bonnier family. Background The company was founded in 1804 by Gerhard Bonnier in Copenhagen, Denm ...

, Lindgren developed the nonsensical aspects further and submitted the revised version to the 1945 children's book contest sponsored by

Rabén & Sjögren Rabén & Sjögren is a book publishing company in Sweden. It was established in 1942 by and . Since 1998 it has been part of Norstedts förlag. The publishing focus is on children's and youth literature. Rabén & Sjögren was very successful, p ...

, a rather new publisher. ''Pippi'' won the contest that closed on August 1, Rabén & Sjögren arranged for illustrations by

(her debut in Sweden), and the first edition was published in November.

Plot

The book focuses on the experiences of

Pippi Långstrump Pippi Longstocking () is the fictional protagonist, main character in a Pippi Longstocking (book), series of children's books by Sweden, Swedish author Astrid Lindgren. Pippi was named by Lindgren's daughter Karin, who asked her mother for a get ...

, a nine-year-old pigtailed redhead whose mother died when she was a baby and whose father, a sea captain, has seemingly vanished at sea, so she moves into a big house known as

Villa Villekulla Villa Villekulla is a fictional house that is the home of Pippi Longstocking, a character in a series of books by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren. She lives there with her horse, Lilla Gubben, and monkey, Mr. Nilsson. Outside stands a tree that gro ...

, located in a little Swedish village, with her pet monkey Mr. Nilsson, a suitcase filled with pieces of gold, and her unnamed pet horse. Gifted with

superhuman strength Superhuman strength is a superpower commonly invoked in fiction and other literary works, such as mythology. A fictionalized representation of the phenomenon of hysterical strength, it is the power to exert force and lift weights beyond what is ...

and countless other eccentricities, Pippi is soon befriended by two local siblings named Annika and Tommy Settergren, who admire her and enjoy her company. Having spent her entire life at sea, Pippi has a limited knowledge of common courtesy and average childhood behaviour that adds humour to the story when she attempts to enroll at Tommy and Annika's school, attends a

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicy ...

, and attends a coffee party hosted by Mrs. Settergren.

Reception

In 2002 the

Norwegian Nobel Institute The Norwegian Nobel Institute () is located in Oslo, Norway. The institute is located at Henrik Ibsen Street 51 in the center of the city. It is situated just by the side of the Royal Palace. History The institute was established in 1904 in Kr ...

listed the novel as one of the "Top 100 Works of World Literature", based on polling one hundred authors from fifty-four countries. In 2012 it was ranked number 91 on a list of the top 100 children's novels published by ''

School Library Journal ''School Library Journal'' (''SLJ'') is an American monthly magazine containing reviews and other articles for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, wi ...

''.

Series

Three full-length Pippi books were published in 1945–1948, followed by three short stories in later years. Additionally, excerpts from the original chapter books have been illustrated and published as picture books.

Adaptations

Film

Films were distributed by G.G. Communications, a film distribution company based in Boston, Massachusetts

''Pippi Longstocking'' (1949 film)

The first movie adaptation of Pippi Longstocking was filmed in 1949. The film was based on three of the books, but several storylines were changed and characters were removed and added. Pippi's character was played by

Viveca Serlachius Viveca Elisabeth Marianne Serlachius Olsson (2 March 1923 – 9 January 1993) was a Finnish-born Swedish actress, best known as the first actress to play Pippi Longstocking on film, ''Pippi Longstocking'' in 1949, when she was aged 26 portraying ...

.Pippi Långstrump
Svenska Filminstitutet (The Swedish Film Database), Retrieved 11 June 2016 It was directed by Per Gunvall and released on December 9, 1949.

''Pippi Longstocking'' (1971 film)

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese animators

Hayao Miyazaki is a Japanese animator, filmmaker, and manga artist. He co-founded Studio Ghibli and serves as honorary chairman. Throughout his career, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and creator of Anime, Japanese ani ...

and

Isao Takahata was a Japanese director, screenwriter and producer. A co-founder of Studio Ghibli, he earned international critical acclaim for his work as a director of Japanese animated feature films. Born in Ujiyamada, Mie Prefecture, Takahata joined Toei ...

had expressed great interest in doing an

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

feature adaptation of Pippi Longstocking. The proposed project was titled . They traveled to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, and not only did research for the film (they went location scouting in

Visby Visby () is an urban areas in Sweden, urban area in Sweden and the seat of Gotland Municipality in Gotland County on the island of Gotland with 24,330 inhabitants . Visby is also the episcopal see for the Diocese of Visby. The Hanseatic League, ...

, one of the major locations where the 1969 TV series was filmed), but also personally visited creator

, and discussed the project with her. However, their permission to complete the film was denied by Lindgren, after their meeting with the author and the project was canceled. Among what remains of the project are

watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting metho ...

ed storyboards by Miyazaki himself.

''Peppi Dlinnyychulok'' (1984 film)

Mosfilm Mosfilm (, ''Mosfil’m'' , initialism and portmanteau of Moscow Films) is a film studio in Moscow which is among the largest and oldest in the Russian Federation and in Europe. Founded in 1924 in the USSR as a production unit of that nation's fi ...

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

version, ''Peppi Dlinnyychulok'', was released in

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

. It was produced by Margaret Mikalan, and starred

Mikhail Boyarsky Mikhail Sergeyevich Boyarsky (; born 26 December 1949) is a Russian actor and singer. He is best known for playing swashbucklers in historical adventure films; the role of d'Artagnan in the 1978 Soviet adaptation of Alexander Dumas' ''Thre ...

Lev Durov Lev Konstantinovich Durov (23 December 1931 – 20 August 2015) was a Soviet and Russian theatre and film actor who appeared in more than 200 films and numerous stage productions between 1955 and 2008. He was named a People's Artist of the USS ...

and Tatiana Vasilieva. Pippi was played by Svetlana Stupak, and her singing voice was provided by Svetlana Stepchenko.

''The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking'' (1988 film)

A US

feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...

version from

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...

was released in 1988, directed by British veteran director

Ken Annakin Kenneth Cooper Annakin, OBE (10 August 1914 – 22 April 2009) was an English film director. His career spanned half a century, beginning in the early 1940s and ending in 1992, and in the 1960s he was noticed by critics with large-scale advent ...

, starring Tami Erin as Pippi with

Eileen Brennan Eileen Brennan (born Verla Eileen Regina Brennen; September 3, 1932 – July 28, 2013) was an American actress. She made her film debut in the satire '' Divorce American Style'' (1967), followed by a supporting role in Peter Bogdanovich's ''The ...

Dennis Dugan Dennis Barton Dugan (; born September 5, 1946) is an American film director, actor, and comedian. He is known for directing the films ''Problem Child (film), Problem Child'', ''Brain Donors'', ''Beverly Hills Ninja'' and ''National Security (20 ...

John Schuck Conrad John Schuck Jr. (born February 4, 1940) is an American film, stage, and television actor. He is best known for his role as Sergeant Charles Enright in the 1970s crime drama ''McMillan & Wife''. He also played Herman Munster in the late- ...

and

Dick Van Patten Richard Vincent Van Patten (December 9, 1928 – June 23, 2015) was an American actor, comedian, businessman, and animal welfare advocate, whose career spanned seven decades of television. He was best known for his role as patriarch Tom Bra ...

in supporting roles. While the title suggests a continuation, the film is in fact just a retelling of the original story. The original songs and the score were composed by Misha Segal.

''Pippi Longstocking'' (1997 film and TV series)

animated film Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animati ...

adaptation by

Nelvana Nelvana Limited (; also known as Nelvana Enterprises, Nelvana International or Nelvana Digital; commonly known as Nelvana; stylized as "nelvana") is a Canadian animation studio and entertainment production company owned by Corus Entertainment s ...

, ''

Pippi Longstocking Pippi Longstocking () is the fictional main character in a series of children's books by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren. Pippi was named by Lindgren's daughter Karin, who asked her mother for a get-well story when she was off school. Pippi is ...

'', was released in 1997 and was further adapted into an

animated television series An animated series, or a cartoon series, is a set of Animation, animated films with a common title, usually related to one another. These episodes typically share the same main heroes, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series ...

, ''

'' also by Nelvana, which aired for one season (1997) on Canada's

Teletoon Cartoon Network (formerly Teletoon) is a Canadian English-language discretionary specialty channel owned by Corus Entertainment. The channel primarily broadcasts animated series aimed at children and teenagers. It was launched on October 17 ...

channel and later (1998) on

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

in the United States. Reruns are shown on the

Qubo Qubo ( ; stylized as qubo) was an American television network for children between the ages of 5 and 14. Owned by Ion Media, it consisted of a 24-hour free-to-air television network often mentioned as the "Qubo channel" (available as a digital ...

digital subchannel In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compress ...

. While the movie used

digital inking Traditional animation (or classical animation, cel animation, or hand-drawn animation) is an animation technique in which each frame is drawn by hand. The technique was the dominant form of animation of the 20th century, until there was a shif ...

, the series used the

traditional animation Traditional animation (or classical animation, cel animation, or hand-drawn animation) is an animation technique in which each frame is drawing, drawn by hand. The technique was the dominant form of animation of the 20th century, until there wa ...

process.

Television

''Shirley Temple's Storybook'' (1961 episode)

1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...

, the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

children's anthology TV series ''

Shirley Temple's Storybook ''Shirley Temple's Storybook'' is a 1958–61 American children's anthology series hosted and narrated by actress Shirley Temple. The series features adaptations of fairy tales like Mother Goose and other family-oriented stories performed by we ...

'' (hosted by

Shirley Temple Shirley Temple Black (born Shirley Jane Temple; April 23, 1928 – February 10, 2014) was an American actress, singer, dancer, and diplomat, who was Hollywood's number-one box-office draw as a child actress from 1934 to 1938. Later, she was na ...

) included an adaptation of ''Pippi Longstocking'', Episode 2-15, aired on January 8. This was the first American adaptation of Astrid Lindgren's character, not to mention the first adaptation done in color, and the first to feature a child actress playing Pippi—in this case, Gina Gillespie, who also plays the girl named Susan Scholfield, who appears at the beginning and end of the story with her sister Betsy (played by Gina's younger sister Jennifer), both dreaming up the whole story after being sent to bed early. Gina (1951) is the younger sister of former Mouseketeer Darlene Gillespie (1941), a lead singer and dancer of the original 9 member Red Team in 1955. Although the story is mostly faithful to the original books, a few liberties are taken; Pippi is shown to be extremely intelligent (flawlessly answering a strict but well-meaning teacher's questions), which she attributes to her firsthand experiences in her world travels, and Pippi can fly (rather, she lands softly onto the ground from the rooftop of her house, à la

Peter Pan Peter Pan is a fictional character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie. A free-spirited and mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having adventures on the mythical ...

). Among the characters, Pippi's originally nameless pet horse is named Horatio, and Thunder-Karlsson and Bloom are renamed "Scar Face" Seymour and "Mad Dog" Jerome. Also of note is Swedish wrestler/actor

Tor Johnson Karl Erik Tore Johansson (19 October 1903 – 12 May 1971), better known by the stage name Tor Johnson, was a Swedish professional wrestler and actor. As an actor, Johnson appeared in many B-movies, including some famously directed by Ed Wood. ...

, in one of his final roles, playing a circus strongman, the Mighty Adolf, whom Pippi challenges to a match of strength at the circus.

''Pippi Longstocking'' (1969 TV series)

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

was created based on the

book A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, ...

s in 1968. The first episode was broadcast on Sveriges Radio TV in February 1969. The production was a Swedish–West German co-production and several German actors had roles in the series. As Astrid Lindgren was unhappy with the 1949 adaptation, she wrote the script herself for this version. The series was directed by

Olle Hellbom Nils Olof "Olle" Hellbom (8 October 1925 – 5 June 1982) was a Swedish film director, film producer, producer, and screenwriter. He is most famous for directing films based on novels by Astrid Lindgren. His 1960 film ''The Children of Bullerbyn V ...

who also directed several other Astrid Lindgren adaptations.

Inger Nilsson Karin Inger Monica Nilsson (born 4 May 1959) is a Swedish actress and singer. She is a former child actress. She is primarily known for her portrayal of Pippi Longstocking in the Swedish-produced TV series of the same name during 1969 which was ...

gave a confident, oddball performance that was uncommonly consistent and eccentric for a

child actress The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting on stage, television, or in movies. An adult who began their acting career as a child may also be called a child actor, or a "former child actor". Closely associated te ...

. This version is the most well-known version in Sweden and has been repeated numerous times by SR/ SVT. In other European countries this is the most favoured version of Pippi Longstocking. The Swedish series was re-edited as two dubbed feature films for United States distribution: *''

'' (Swedish title: ''Pippi Långstrump'') (1969) (USA release 1973) *'' Pippi Goes on Board'' (Swedish title: ''Här kommer Pippi Långstrump'') (1969) (USA release 1975) Another two feature film spin-offs were also shown in the United States: *'' Pippi in the South Seas'' (Swedish title: ''Pippi Långstrump på de sju haven'') (1970) (USA release 1975) *''

Pippi on the Run ''Pippi on the Run'' (original Swedish title: ''På rymmen med Pippi Långstrump'') is a 1970 in film, 1970 Sweden, Swedish/West Germany, West German movie, sequel of ''Pippi in the South Seas (film), Pippi in the South Seas'' with the cast of the ...

'' (Swedish title: ''På rymmen med Pippi Långstrump'') (1970) (USA release 1977) They became weekend television staples in several cities in the United States throughout the 1970s and 1980s. The first 6 episodes of the original TV series, newly dubbed using British actors, became available on DVD in 2002.

''Pippi Longstocking'' (1985 TV special)

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

Carrie Kei Heim Carrie Kei Heim (born December 7, 1973) is an American lawyer, writer, and former child actress. She is best known for her roles as Cornelia in '' Santa Claus: The Movie'' (1985) and Nikki Ferris in '' The Parent Trap II'' (1986). After complet ...

played the title role in the 2-part ''

ABC Weekend Special ''ABC Weekend Special'' is a weekly 30-minute American television anthology series for children that aired Saturday mornings on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from September 10, 1977 to August 30, 1997, which featured a wide variety of stori ...

'', entitled ''Pippi Longstocking''. Directed by

Colin Chilvers Colin Chilvers (1945 – 19 November 2024) was an English television and music video director and special effects coordinator. He is known for his work on ''The Rocky Horror Picture Show'' (1975), ''Superman'' (1978), ''Condorman'' (1981), and ' ...

, Part 1 of the special aired on November 2, and Part 2 aired on November 9. She was mentioned in

Seinfeld ''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, with a total of nine seasons consisting of List of Seinfeld episodes, 180 episodes. It ...

by Elaine in the fourteenth episode of its seventh season,

the Cadillac "The Cadillac" is an hour-long, two-part episode of the NBC sitcom ''Seinfeld''. It was the 124th and 125th episode and 14th and 15th episode for the seventh season. It aired on February 8, 1996. This was the last episode to be co-written by Je ...

References

External links

*
Pippi Longstocking — Swedish rebel and feminist role model
{{Authority control 1945 children's books Novels by Astrid Lindgren Novels set in Sweden Pippi Longstocking Swedish children's novels 1945 Swedish novels Rabén & Sjögren books Children's books set in Sweden